‘Bristolians are sick of cars clogging up streets and pavements’

So today is ‘Clean Air Day’, which might have come at an ironic time for Bristol. This week we were told that the administration is now delaying the implementation of the Clean Air Zone in Bristol until the end of the year.

In recent stories, Bristol was ranked the worst city for driving in due to traffic, only 28th for cycling and our air quality remains at illegally high levels, especially in the most deprived areas of Bristol – here we do score high, being in the top ten for air pollution.

And yet there seems to be no urgency from the Labour administration to address any of this – nor has there been for the last six years. Recently £500k was secured by WECA to fund yet another ‘plan’ rather than funding practical steps towards cleaning up our air.

Not only is our current active travel strategy woefully unambitious, but the Council are actually planning to remove a key cycle lane on Whiteladies road, and there seems to be little ambition to deliver essential projects like a workplace parking levy, let alone address everyday problems like out of control parking.

As a councillor, at least 50 per cent of my resident enquiries relate to getting cars off the roads and out of residential areas. Bristolians are sick of cars clogging up streets and pavements, and they are rightly worried about the effect of air pollution on their children’s health.

They are sick of rat runs, speeding, and cars idling outside of schools. They want ‘Liveable Neighbourhoods’, residents’ parking zones, and to feel safe walking their kids to school.

And it can be done! On Tuesday, fellow Bristol Green councillors Lorraine Francis, Yassin Mohamud, Martin Fodor, and I took the train to London to visit Lambeth Borough Council for a tour of their low-traffic neighbourhoods and find out how they were done.

Lambeth’s ‘Liveable Neighbourhood’ initiative has created pedestrianised walkways and quieter neighbourhoods for its residents – photo: Emma Edwards

Once we left the pretty polluted high street of Brixton and into the residential areas, the difference was noticeable. Not only the air quality but how quiet and peaceful it was. There were more cyclists on the roads than cars; we were able to cross the road anywhere safely, and even walk in the road, and you could really see the space because of the absence of cars.

The LTNs in Lambeth are not completely linked up and are currently a mix of temporary and permanent schemes. From roads where a couple of planters and a camera have appeared to the aspirational Van Gogh Walk, where a regular road, once lined with parked cars, has been transformed into a pedestrianised garden of lush green, sculptures and seating areas – you can see how the council has applied a multi-method approach.

I asked our guide, Sustrans’ Dan Kelly, about resident’s parking zones and if they were needed to make such schemes work: “Absolutely. You have to have a holistic approach; like anything where you are improving wellbeing, you can’t just do one thing.”

The resident’s parking zone was implemented before the LTNs, but you can see how it would be difficult to have one without another.

So how did they do this, and what are we getting wrong in Bristol? One thing I found interesting when we talked to Lambeth council leader, councillor Claire Holland, was how the temporary LTNs were implemented quickly: “We told residents they were happening with letters, but because of Covid at the time, we didn’t have the engagements we would have had usually.

“So, people came out of lockdown, traffic filters had been added, roads blocked off, and they were scared at first.”

It is true that councillors got a lot of abuse from some residents who weren’t keen at first – cameras were vandalised and some businesses complained.

But this is where the engagement really started. Officers worked with businesses to look at their accounts and see how they could adjust, what was down to the pandemic and not the LTNs, and how they could solve the problem. The engagement was done through the local press to stop the vandalising, and school headteachers got involved in making the school streets work.

Despite loud objections from a vocal minority, people were much happier overall, and even some of the most vocal critics came around to the idea. It’s interesting to note that the councillors involved with the LTNs were all re-elected to their seats and a Conservative attempt to turn it into a campaign issue fell flat.

So how can we make this happen in Bristol? It makes me wonder if we need to be bolder and more proactive when it comes to Liveable Neighbourhoods and LTNS. Rather than spending so much time and money on consultations, why not put temporary ones in and then engage with residents once they have experienced them? Work with businesses and schools, and engage with communities on what works and doesn’t work once they’ve had time to see them for themselves?

The other factor, of course, is public transport. London is much better served by public transport, overground and underground. While I have not changed my mind about an underground, I think it’s vital that people have good public transit links so that more people can give up their cars and still get around the city quickly.

And it’s no coincidence in my mind that Bristol ranks so poorly for both driving and cycling – in a city with limited street space and a growing population, we’ll never address traffic without making it easier for people to get around on bikes, which take up a fraction of the space.

And we need to sort out parking first. We have to get residents’ parking zones implemented to reduce through traffic and commuter parking in back streets, and a workplace parking levy to bring down traffic levels – and raise tens of millions of pounds each year to make the alternatives to private cars cheaper and better. Once we have done that, then I don’t see what is holding us back.

Emma Edwards is a Green Party Councillor for Bishopston and Ashley Down

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more: New ‘end of 2022’ target for Bristol Clean Air Zone

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